We are reminded, Jesus is always there to bring us hope

By Rt. Rev. Michael P. Milliken

Friday

Mar 29, 2013 at 12:01 AM

Saturday of Holy Week! Holy Saturday! That is today, the day between Good Friday when Jesus of Nazareth died on the cross, and Easter when he rose from the grave. In the Jewish Faith, Saturday is the Sabbath Day, a day of rest. Was Jesus resting in the tomb on Saturday?

Ancient Christian tradition says that Jesus did more than just rest on Holy Saturday. The Apostles' Creed says that after his death and burial Jesus "...descended to the dead." Why? One popular theologian says that Jesus entered these lower regions in order to bring the Good News to those most distant from the divine presence. In medieval writings this was often referred to the "Harrowing of Hell."

The writings of St. Peter seem to indicate that on Holy Saturday Jesus proclaimed the Gospel to the dead, so that they too might have the opportunity to know the saving grace of the Cross.

So, what might all this mean to you and me on this Easter Eve? It means that God will go to any length to find you and me. We may feel that we are beyond redemption; that we are worthless, and beyond anyone caring. But God cares. We may feel that our life has been such that no one could love us, But God does. We may feel that our choices have taken us beyond the reach of God. Yet God can reach out to us even across that barrier we call death.

St. Paul, the one-time killer of Christians and persecutor of the church, understood the great length God would go to show his love. To the church in Rome Paul wrote: "I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord."

Jesus proved this to us when, on Holy Saturday, he rested not, but entered the realms of Hell to find the lost, the hopeless, the forgotten. He came to tell us that God's love and compassion is not bound by life or death, heaven or hell.

Tomorrow, Easter, we will celebrate the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. We will celebrate the victory of life over death. We will rejoice in the knowledge that no matter where we are, what we are, how far we have wandered, Jesus is always there to bring us hope.

Today is Holy Saturday. Jesus is among us! Alleluia!

The Rt. Rev. Michael P. Milliken is Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Western Kansas.

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